Defenders of Wildlife

Integrating Land Use Planning and Biodiversity

Many planners understand the importance of the natural environment to their communities' quality of life, and realize that their decisions can affect human society and wildlife habitats far into the future. Despite this understanding and land use planning's influence on the landscape, conservationists have traditionally made little use of the local planning process in working toward biodiversity protection.

A new report from Defenders of Wildlife attempts to draw attention to the numerous fledgling efforts at conservation planning currently underway in communities throughout the country. These efforts show how a variety of existing land use planning tools, such as incentive-based programs and regulations, can be applied locally to protect biodiversity.

To read the report online, visit http://www.biodiversitypartners.org/pubs/landuse/01.shtml.